A Round-Robin Test Study of Partial Discharge Inception Voltage in Aeronautic Cables

Future aircraft systems should consider the partial discharge (PD) phenomena as particularly critical, given the low-pressure environment and the stresses from pulse-width modulated (PWM) voltage at relatively high fundamental frequencies of 1 kHz and above. This work addresses the repeatability of PD Inception and Extinction Voltage (PDIV and PDEV respectively) measurements obtained on different configurations of aeronautic wires following the practical testing procedures described in different existing standards. We show that substantial differences in the results can be obtained according to sample configuration and according to the actual implementation of the standardized test procedures by different laboratories carrying out the experiments.